Jeffrey Theis


Professional Details

Title Professor
Department English
Office Meier Hall 102C
Phone 978.542.6845
Email jeffrey.theis@salemstate.edu
Photo of Jeffrey Theis

Recent and Upcoming Courses

ENG 716 Ecopoetics
ENG 758 Studies in Shakespeare
ENL 245H Literature and the Humanities
ENL 340 Shakespeare I
ENL 341 Shakespeare II
ENL 508 Internship in English
FYEN 100 First Year Seminar (english)
IDS 600H Honors Seminar I
IDS 601H Honors Seminar II

Professional Biography

Ph.D., English, University of Wisconsin at Madison
M.A., English, University of Illinois at Chicago
B.A., English, Kenyon College

Professional Interests

Teaching Focus: Shakespeare and early modern British writing, introduction to literature, first year seminar, ecotheory, honors thesis seminars.

Research Interests: ecocritical (environment-focused) analysis of early-modern English writing and culture with a focus on Shakespeare’s plays and time. Current focus is on homes and the process of dwelling in Shakespeare in relation to ecosystems, changing housing practices, and climate change.

Responsibilities

English Department faculty

Selected Publications

Book:

Writing the Forest in Early Modern England: A Sylvan Pastoral Nation. Duquesne University Press, 2009.

Articles:

Forthcoming: “Plant People: Identity in Cymbeline,” in Shakespeare’s Botanical Imagination, ed. Susan Staub. Under contract with Amsterdam University Press.

“Marvell’s “Upon Appleton House” and Tree-Felling: A Political Woodpecker,” in Ecological Approaches to Early Modern English Texts: A Field Guide to Reading and Teaching. Eds. Edward Geisweidt, Jennifer Munroe, and Lynne Bruckner. Ashgate Press, 2015. pp. 193-204.

"Ecocritical Milton," in Approaches to Teaching Milton's Paradise Lost, 2nd edition, ed. Peter Herman. New York: Modern Language Association, 2012.

"The 'purlieus of heaven': Milton's Eden as a Pastoral Forest," in Renaissance Ecology: Imagining Eden in Miltons England, ed. Ken Hiltner. Duquesne UP, 2008.

"Collegiality and the Department Mailbox: Subdivide and Conquer," Profession 2006. New York: Modern Language Association, 2006.

"Milton's Principles of Architecture," English Literary Renaissance 35:1 (Winter, 2005): 102-122.

"The 'ill-killd Deer:' Poaching and Social Order in The Merry Wives of Windsor," Texas Studies in Literature and Language 43.1 (Spring, 2001): 46-73.

Selected Presentations

“No Island for Old Men: Atwood’s Hag-Seed, Dwelling, and Prospero’s Non-Migration,” for the seminar session “Ecomigration: Shakespeare and the Contemporary Novel,” Shakespeare Association of America, Virtual Conference, April 2021.

“Staging the Cave: Dwelling in Nature,” for the seminar session “Ecomaterialism and Performance,” Shakespeare Association of America, Washington D.C., April 19, 2019.

“Plant People: Nature, Home, and Inter-Connected Identities,” for the seminar session “Object Lessons in Renaissance Personhood,” Shakespeare Association of America, Los Angeles, CA, March 30, 2018.

“’I must eat my dinner’: Ambivalent Social and Environmental Economies in The Tempest,” for the seminar session “Home Ecologies,” Shakespeare Association of America, Atlanta, GA, April 7, 2017.

“Early Modern Houses and Dwelling from a Sustainability Perspective,” for the seminar session “Shakespeare and the Histories of Sustainability,” Shakespeare Association of America, New Orleans, LA, March 23-26, 2016.

"The Private and the Social: ‘Natural' Architecture and Dwelling in Cymbeline and The Tempest," for the seminar "Theater and Geography: Comparative Perspectives," Shakespeare Association of America, Boston, MA, April 5-7, 2012.

"Connecting the Arts and Humanities through Shakespeare: A Model for Multidisciplinary Approaches and Collaborations" session with Dr. Elizabeth Kenney from Salem State and Lori Taylor, Project Director for Actors' Shakespeare Project, for the conference "Arts & Humanities: Toward a Flourishing State," Association of American Colleges and Universities, Providence, RI, November 5, 2011.

"Primitive Architecture, Temporary Dwelling? Cells, Caves, and Environment in The Tempest and Cymbeline," for the seminar entitled "Green Scenes in Shakespeare," Shakespeare Association of America, Bellevue, WA, April 7-9, 2011.

"Transient Milton: Place, Home, and Movement in Milton's Life and Poetry," The Ninth International Milton Symposium, London, July 7-11, 2008.